[Click here to start from the first progress log]

And the tone problems continue. Oh, do they continue.

The last chapter ended with a message stating that “missions” were now available. I didn’t think anything of it at the time, but noticed a new menu option when I went to continue playing and decided that it was worth exploring. Basically, missions are challenges where you have to do something specific to succeed. The first mission is to kill a guy before time expires, which is pretty easy, and beating it unlocked a new trap to use (though it’s hard to tell if that’s because the mission was completed or because of the experience finishing it provided). As for pre-chapter preparations, I unlocked a new springboard trap and replaced the roll move with a second trap button. That means that I can technically use the control scheme from the old games. Also of note is that the previous games had a limitation that limited you to one floor, wall, and ceiling trap, and that’s been done away with in Deception IV. It’s now possible to, say, use multiple springboards in a single trap combo. Neat.

Groooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooan.

After leaving the mansion behind, Lae and her fruit salad camp out in an abandoned factory where they come to the attention of the “Church.” In response, a gun-packing tone issue in the form of a manic nun is sent to eliminate the problem, and this particular inquisitor just so happens to be a descendant of one of the saints with a fragment of the Holy Verses. How convenient that things worked out in such a way!

I like that the first bit of gameplay plops you in a room with a convenient staircase and some room traps that a boulder staircase of death could leverage for a little extra damage. I don’t like the technology here; there have always been factory-type areas, and that’s totally fine, but religious fanatics armed with flamethrowers? They’re understandable from a “expanding gameplay” perspective, but the whole thing seems anachronistic given the straightforward fantasy vibe of everything else.

The crazy gun nun is named Lyla. Lyla Gun Feyconia. The only purpose her dialogue serves is to paint her as a religious extremist whose zealotry makes her frighteningly out of touch with reality. But lol, a nun with a gun is a roflcopter.

Sarcasm, obviously. I think I’m beginning to loathe this game and what it represents.

I’m getting seriously tired of characters running away. Chasing after a bunch of cowards who force you to reconfigure your traps in a vain attempt to finish them off before they reach the door isn’t fun. And since Hernan in chapter 3 disappeared while in a room without an exit, who the hell knows if you even have that long?

That’s a long way of saying that I had to restart. Since you start out in a crappy room this time around, I took the opportunity to explore the area a little, and all of the rooms are similarly crappy. That’s not all—there’s also a train that runs through almost all of the rooms, and it’s frustratingly easy to get blindsided by it while trying to run somewhere else. Eventually I ran back to the room from the first part and killed everyone on the same staircase. My patience only stretches so far.

Lyla shows up and has another exchange designed to play up her being divorced from reality. Oh, this game where we’re trying to resurrect the devil is so wacky!

Before Lyla shows up, you have to first deal with one of the two armored enemies. I tried to be creative with them and make another room work, but it was a mess and I eventually retreated back to the love and warmth of the staircase. Once Lyla shows up, you quickly realize that she’s super annoying. Not only does she not take much damage (and again, you’re left to figure out enemy weaknesses by trial and error, making removing her armor a crapshoot), but she has the ability to heal herself and others. I never managed to remove her armor, so this became a battle of attrition.

Lae’s fruit salad explains that Lyla was the last descendant of the saints that they knew about, which means finding the others will be more tricky. Then Blueberry explains that the people with the rest of the fragments of the Holy Verses are “inexorably drawn” to anyone who starts to gather them, so it won’t be more tricky. I’m not sure why they needed to bring up not knowing who the rest of the descendants are if they’re going to come right to them, but dialogue has never been a strong point of the Deception series. Then again, previous games had charmingly bad writing, whereas Deception IV’s writing is the uninspired, normal kind of bad.

The first and third chapters were pretty decent. The second and fourth have confirmed my worst fears about the tone and writing. I have hope that this pattern will continue and ensure an enjoyable fifth chapter, but the fact that I have nothing to rely on but hope says it all, really. This is a Deception game in name only.

[Click here to go to Deception IV log #3]

The post Deception IV – The Nightmare Princess: Progress Log #4 appeared first on Killa Penguin.